How home CCTV can deter criminals

November 9, 2017

When it comes to protecting your assets, installing CCTV can help both your home and commercial property against burglars and intruders. CCTV Installers Newcastle GPS Installations delves into the mind of a criminal to find out what is so off-putting about CCTV cameras on properties and how effective they are.

Setting the scene:

It’s not nice when something that belongs to you has been violated in any sort of way. Imagine that you don’t have any CCTV around your property, whether this is your family home or your business premises.

During the night, while you and your children are fast asleep, burglars are breaking in and causing damage. Once you wake up the next day, you find your property in a bad way. Of course, you ring the police and report it – but to find the culprit will take time.

You don’t have your own CCTV cameras and you don’t know the time of the burglary, the police will have to search for cameras in the area, and obtain and then examine the footage from them – which could take a while.

But there is a solution to this problem. If you have CCTV and someone does try to burgle your property, you have evidence of this crime being committed – and once you hand it to the police, the process is quickened.

Having CCTV could deter the intruders from burgling you completely, as they don’t want to get caught – they want an easy job with no challenges to face. Although, there are a few loopholes when it comes to having visible CCTV on your property – professional burglars may be able to tell if your security system is fake. And therefore, we would advise you to have a real working system that will prevent criminal activity and act as a safety net should it occur.

Can you put a price on safety?

Protecting what you’ve worked hard for should be at the forefront of your mind. You don’t want anyone to take advantage of your property and this is where you can prevent it. CCTV can be bought for as little as £50 and be a big help when it comes to property burglary’s – in fact, police encourage property owners to use CCTV to help the fight against criminals.

Quality of footage can depend on your budget; naturally, if you spend less on equipment, the footage quality might not be as good. If you spend a decent amount, the quality can be excellent. This is something you will need to thoroughly check out when looking for home security essentials.

You can purchase different types of CCTV cameras, including wired and wireless although this can depend on your lifestyle. To use a wireless CCTV camera, you will need an internet connection – but if your internet connection goes down, you could potentially lose vital footage. With wired solutions, you just need an electrical supply close to a spot with a good view.

Laws on CCTV

Having your own private CCTV could also be drastically impacted by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will be introduced in May 2018 by the European Union. Currently, by having your own CCTV, you could be breaching the Data Protection Act or more specifically, any sort of harassment laws.

Like most people who implement CCTV systems around their homes, they’re filming outside. When doing this, you need to make sure that your camera is not directly pointing or capturing public spaces such as pavements or the roads. Basically, try not to film outside of your own property.

For protection purposes, you need to make sure that people who operate in your area are aware of the CCTV filming – you can do this by putting up a sign that indicates that the area is being recorded. It is also useful to include a contact number for those who have queries. It is also worthwhile knowing that if you live in a rented accommodation, you require permission from the landlord to use CCTV in their property before you go ahead and install it yourself.

CCTV will be a beneficial asset to your property. It is your responsibility to use it correctly and within the law. Criminals don’t want to attract any sort of attention and with CCTV in place, they will avoid your property at all costs.